


Lost and Found

by SourWolf



Series: Lessons Learned [15]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-22
Updated: 2012-05-22
Packaged: 2017-11-05 19:25:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/410142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SourWolf/pseuds/SourWolf
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek is injured and stranded, but he may not be completely alone.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lost and Found

I don’t know how much time had passed since the full moon. I managed to crawl into this tight grove of trees that Laura and I used to play in when we were little. There was only one large tree, in the very center of the little hideaway that was thick with brambles and saplings. At some point, long ago some animal probably cleared out a little hideaway that couldn’t be seen from the outside, but Laura and I had found it when we were younger. Surprisingly, it was still relatively unchanged probably because the greenery above didn’t allow very much light to filter down.

It had become a safe haven during the attack. I took solace in the fact that I could hear our attackers arguing about losing both of us as they searched the woods for signs of Jackson or me. My betas were safe for now, but how long ago was that? It was so hard to tell between the thickness of the plant life, the cloudiness of my mind and heaviness of my thoughts, and the constant, fatiguing struggle for consciousness.

I think it was light out. Orange, so it was probably dawn or dusk. Was there a solar eclipse supposed to happen sometime soon, maybe? Darkness was falling over me. The sky was still orange right up until everything went black. I hurt all over. I couldn’t make the light come back. My eyelids were too heavy to lift. Laura? I’ll be seeing you soon.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

My eyes snapped open and I let out a groan of pain. Was that an owl? Was it night already? The pain reared again, distracting me form trying to figure out how much time had passed once more. I looked down at my hip, where the strongest pain was coming from. Those were arrows in me, weren’t they? Yeah, I can kind of remember it. They had a pretty good system. Four leather-clad men, two with crossbows and two with compound bows. They staggered their shots, minimizing the time from one arrow to the next. Most of them hit.

I pulled the first three out as I ran, but they were so close to us already that they had plenty of time to keep up the chase. How many did I have in me now? Twelve? Fifteen? More?

It was a fight to get my eyes to focus long enough to try to get an idea. The arrows blended into the vines, which blended into the grasses that were stained with my blood. I was still bleeding a slow trickle from the wounds that should have been able to seal off by now. What had they used?

I pulled another arrow out, letting out a grunt of pain and annoyance that I wasn’t healing before looking at the tip. It looked hollow, intended to inject its contents into the target. I sniffed at it to see if there was anything left, but I couldn’t make anything out.

I was light-headed suddenly and sick to my stomach. The last thing I could do was will myself not to die in a puddle of my own vomit.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

“Derek, sweetie. Wake up. Your father’s waiting for you.”

I let out a huff, my brow knitting together. Mom? It can’t be you. You… The house…

“Derek, son, did you hear your mother? She told you to get up.”

My eyes are so heavy, though… Just let me sleep… Is being dead this tiring?

“Derek.”

It was my father’s warning voice. I strained to get my eyes open. It was dark but not night. Heavy clouds hovered in the sky, struggling to carry their loads like I struggled to keep my eyes open.

But there they were. My parents. They didn’t look any different from the people I had known and loved so long ago. There was a stirring in me, the wolf raged against my veins, preparing for a fight with the man that had been my alpha for so long. It was always tense for two alphas to be in the same place, but I was too tired, and he was my father. Shouldn’t I be willing to submit to him?

“Son. Stop being unreasonable.” My father said, crossing his arms over his chest like he did when I was being stubborn and it wore on his nerves. I looked up at him tiredly, waiting for his counsel like I had when I was younger and realized how childish I was being not to listen to his expertise. “I thought I taught you not to spread yourself thin.”

I tried to ask what he meant, but it just came out as a raspy breath. My mouth was so dry. My lips were cracking. I must have been out here even longer than I thought.

“You can’t try to be human and push the animal away. The wolf is part of you. The more you try to fight that fact, the stronger the animal side will become and it will eventually claim you. It’s been hard for you to control, I know. You never got the chance to learn everything I wanted to teach you. But you have to embrace it. You’re strong enough. Stop avoiding it. The only reason your animal side will want something it because you want it too, son. You have to start embracing it again if you want to tame it. You were doing until you became the alpha. I know you’re tired of it, afraid to become like Peter, afraid be an animal and lose your values, lose us. But you’re going to lose if you don’t start acting like an alpha instead of pretending to be a human.” He squeezed my shoulder, and it briefly took the pain away from an arrow lodged in my flesh.

“We love you, Derek. You always make us proud.” My mother said, kissing my forehead. It was the same thing she’d done after special wolf moons, like the one after my first transformation. My head cleared after the kiss, but it became impossible to keep my eyes open.

\------------------------------------------------------------------------

“God, Derek, quit being so lazy. Wake up or I’m going push you out the bed.”

Shut up, Laura. Go away.

“Don’t you tell me what to do. You think you’re all big and bad because you’re the alpha now?” She teased, prodding into my ribs.

I forced my eyes open again. It was dark and storming furiously. I was soaked, but the cool rains felt good against my burning skin. The limbs of the trees above were waving in the strong winds that the thick foliage protected me from. Laura was standing high enough that her hair drifted gracefully in the wisps that would occasionally catch a tress. Why wasn’t her hair getting wet?

“It’s about time, Der. I’ve been waiting all day.” She said, grinning at me despite her complaint. Her hands were on her hips and she shook her head at me. “You actually let them get you? I expected better. My little brother’s faster than that. At least you were smart enough this time not to try to take them all down head-on. I’m proud of you for that.”

I let out a huff of air that was supposed to be a grunt, but I was too tired to even attempt rolling my eyes at her.

“If you let a couple of little thorns kill you, I’m never speaking to you again, Derek Hale. You can’t let them win that easily. They’re already too close. If you give in, they win it all. You think those betas of yours are going to stand a chance without you around? You haven’t taught them anything yet. You better live. For all of us. If you die, I’m going to kick your ass straight to Hell and laugh the whole time. I know you can do it, Derek. You’re better than them. Maybe even better than the rest of us.” She said, giving me a hug. It lasted longer than my parents’ touches, and the sharpened my mind and relieved my whole body.

A bolt of lightning hit a nearby tree and I could hear the electricity sliding into the ground and sizzling through the trees’ roots. When the flash faded, Laura was gone.

\--------------------------------------------------------------------

When I woke up again, whatever poison coursed through my veins was burning my wounds like acid, eating away at the flesh until I didn’t know how the arrows were staying to firmly in my body. It wasn’t limited to the wounds, either. The rest of my skin itched as though millions of insects were crawling and biting at my entire body. The toxin gripped my organs, igniting them from the inside out to the point where I woke writhing in pain.

As if that wasn’t bad enough, my ears were attacked with the stabbing laugh conjured from the throats of the fallen angels.

“Oh, Derek. Look at you.” Kate’s voice rang, grating against my very soul. I could feel her fingers sliding over my stomach, tracing my abs. Her touch was worse than the acid in the arrows. Her touch brought wave after wave of nausea as her hand travelled over my stomach, weaving a looping path around the shafts that protruded from my paling flesh. When she reached my chest, every breath became a strain and my heart felt like it would explode.

“See? You should have just stayed home. But some how you always managed to get away from me just in time.” She cooed in my ear, her breath bringing bile to my throat at the cloying, false sweetness that dripped out of her mouth. “Now you’re going to die. And no one’s even going to get the chance to appreciate it. Where’s the fun in that? You’re just going to sit here and rot. It’s pitiful, really.”

My eyes turned from her. Even dead, it was too much to look at her face after everything that had happened.

“My how the mighty have fallen. I remember when you were proud to be a filthy monster. You used to love showing off for me, remember that? I’m almost sad for all the women out there. You were good with your clothes off. A real animal in the sack, pardon the expression. But I heard you’re chasing little boys these days.”

“Imagine my surprise when I find out that you’re luring a boy to you to get what you want. And here you’ve been convincing yourself that we’re so different from each other. We’re exactly the same, Derek, sweetie. The only difference is that I at least wanted to keep people safe. I wanted to get rid of monsters and freaks like you and your disgusting family.” She laughed against and I closed my eyes to try to block her out. She hit me across the face, I think. My eyes snapped open at the pain that started in my cheek and spread from there until I had a pounding headache. “Look at it this way. When you die, he’ll think you just abandoned him and he’ll move on. Maybe he’ll even be safe from your kind once we take care of your pesky little betas. Who’s the alpha going to be after you, Derek? We’ll save him for last and tear him apart piece by piece. Maybe we will take out this boy of yours – stop him from getting ideas about revenge. You always were a sucker for loyalty.  Remember that time I turned down a guy for you? You were so happy. It was sad, really.”

My body was a cruel thing, draining my consciousness from my time with people that mattered but forcing me awake through this. Did life have to give me a taste of what I was going to experience in Hell before I finally got sent there?

“Derek.” Kate’s voice was demanding. She wanted me to look at her. “Derek!” I managed something close to a growl, hoping that it would warn her away but she just kept coming. She was hitting my face next, slapping my cheek repeatedly. “Derek! Come on! Open your eyes!”

I snarled, leaning up towards Kate in one last effort to get her away. My fangs elongated and my eyes were glowing red as I opened them.

The fire behind the move died away at the face I was met with. The hands on the juncture between my shoulder and neck offered their support even as their owner flinched away from the intimidating display.

The hands pressed into my skin lightly begging me to recognize the touch.

“Stiles.” I rasped out, slumping back into his hands. He eased me onto the ground, his fingers rubbing into my shoulders. “What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you. Just stay awake, okay? Stay awake. SCOTT!” He was getting to his feet, trying to get out of the grove so he could bring the others.

I grabbed him and pulled him back down where he had been beside me. “Stiles.”

He looked at me, his brow knitting together. He was afraid. That same selfless fear he got whenever Peter got his claws into me, and probably whenever Lydia got attacked. I knew he wouldn’t leave me like this, and I wouldn’t want to be a regret hanging over his head so I had no plan to try.

“You’re in charge of the pack.” I got out. My throat was sore and every word was like sandpaper against my vocal chords.

Stiles’ jaw dropped and he shook his head. “What are you even saying? You know what? You’re delusional. Shut up. Should you even be talking? Probably not. Shut up.”

I growled, ignoring the pain and grabbing the collar of his shirt. “You’re in charge. They’ll listen to you. It doesn’t matter who becomes the alpha.”

He gawked at me and shook his head. “Shut up! Scott, where are you? Derek, you’re not going to die. You’re not allowed to die, okay? Everyone needs you.”

He was getting too stressed out. Should I not have said anything? No, it had to be said. I was aware of how bad this was. I’d been waiting for – how long now? – to die finally. This poison was slow working and very long lasting, whatever it was. How much longer could I really hold on? Everything burned or ached or had an arrow sticking out of it and I just wanted to lose consciousness again.

“Until I get better.” I said, trying to take another approach. Stiles could handle it if he thought it would be temporary, if he thought that I wasn’t accepting death and he wasn’t going to have to lose another person. “You have to…” His hand clamped over my mouth, stopping me from saying anything else. I had to close my eyes and let out a heavy breath as a wave of vertigo suddenly hit me.

“Just… Fine! Whatever! Scott! Where the hell are you?” He yelled out into the woods. I could hear three pairs of feet moving toward us. There was another person out there too, maybe. I couldn’t really tell. Every time I tried to count, the world would start spinning again and I couldn’t tell which I had already counted.

“Just don’t go to sleep, Derek. Try to stay awake. Please just stay awake.” Everything about Stiles was pleading with me to stay with him from the strain that caused his voice to go abnormally high to the way his eyes never seemed to leave my face for more than a few seconds to the constant, trembling touch of his fingers on my cheeks. But I couldn’t make myself stay awake. My eyelids were just too heavy and my body was too sapped of life. My best effort could only keep me awake for a few moments longer.

“Derek? Derek!” Stiles’ voice was getting frantic, and I managed to briefly blink my eyes open twice before the darkness claimed me again.


End file.
